UBST 505: Exurban TOD and Transit Corridor

ACTIVITY RESULTS

Several interesting trends stood out when we examined the collective results from the class activity.

The west route was by far the more popular option, as it was the choice of 4/5 groups.  The fact that the South West line has already been built out probably had a large impact on this decision.  In terms of transit technology, BRT was the only option that was not chosen. The most popular option was commuter rail (3/5), while LRT and high speed rail were both chosen by one group.

When choosing a TOD station, the choices made by the five groups were more varied.  For the Calgary TOD, 2/5 groups chose “high/mid density + green space”,  2/5  groups chose “office space + ample parking”, while the remaining groups chose “low/mid density residential + commercial space”. This was an interesting result, because the choice that probably described the current form the most accurately (low/mid density residential + commercial), was the least popular option. However, this option gained the support of 2/5 groups for the Okotoks TOD. “High/mid density residential + green space” was also chosen by 2/5 groups, and one group chose “office space + ample parking”. This result was somewhat contrary to our project’s TOD design. Although we did integrate all of these characteristics, office space and parking were key elements in our TOD.

In the second portion of the class activity the most valued attributes were “service standards” (25/120) and “station amenities” (21/120). In contrast, “quantity/quality of parking” (8/120) and accessibility (9/120) were the least valued attributes. We also found it interesting that “station aesthetics” (17/120) was valued high than “security/safety.”(12/120) What is unclear however, is if people voted based on their past experiences with Calgary Transit, or if they were voting from more of a blank slate approach. For example, if someone has never felt unsafe or threatened near a transit station, they may have allocated fewer resources to this cause, although they do feel it’s important. This may also explain why many people chose the “station amenities” option, as current stations offer very few of these. We should also emphasize that these results express the values of a very small group of Calgarians, and they would likely change if a wider population was surveyed. Although collecting this information from the greater population would require much more time, and many more stickers, it would no doubt produce extremely valuable data on what Calgarians value in a transit system.

Finally, we’d like to thank all of you for participating in this class activity. Enjoy your holidays!